Broken Infinity by Rambutan

Originally released on STUNNED RECORDS (No. 38). Limited edition of 100 CDRs.

All sounds Eric Hardiman. Recorded in Delmar, NY. December 2008 - April 2009. Thanks Cory, Aaron, Ray, and Phil French.

FROM THE LABEL: Sometimes an album comes along that just sweeps us right to those endless summer nights where lying back on the still-warm grass, we realize the scope of inverted abyss in the sky above and breathe deep in awe. Rambutan’s ‘Broken Infinity’ is just such a listening experience. Crafted by the hands of the poly-talented Eric Hardiman of the Tape Drift label & Century Plants/Burnt Hills fame, this solo release is filled with aching intention and eye opening wanderlust. Past Rambutan releases tend toward carving out crushing scoops of night-tinged tones with his nimbly-processed six string. That wall-of-guitar power is also found here, but additionally Eric investigates stretches of glassy vibrato downpour & spooked twilight sustain. It’s relieving to find compositions willing to breathe like this, balancing dark and dominant outer forces with the levity of an inner infinite impulse, broken as it may temporarily be. Hand numbered edition of 100 painted cdrs with full color sleeve & insert card in vinyl jacket.

EAR-CONDITIONED NIGHTMARE: Always great to see good dudes released on good labels, and this release is the summation of goodage all around. Actually, this might well be my favorite Rambutan release since his debut on Tape Drift, presenting a fine full length of sprawling and moody guitar and electronics excursions whose effect is always greater than the sum of its parts. Hardiman has a way of conjuring some really mystical stuff, and tracks like the opening title number have that same sand-encrusted, desert stench that Rusted Prayers Converge did, reaching far along the tracks in hopes of that ever elusive solitude amidst the heat waves. "Middle Altar" starts with a murmur but is soon timidly reverberating microscopic columns of looped, raindrop enclosed wonders. Something new from the good doctor, and really a neat take on this kind of stuff, much more investigative and slight than a lot of those neu-Krautrock numbers.

Of course the followup lies in the aptly titled "Abandoned Night Cave," though I'd say this is more like an "Abandoned Night Abyss." The elevator don't stop at ground floor this ride, as sheets of hollow howls echo about in less than ideal conditions while the big demon himself wails his axe from beneath. Not sure if this is a concept album or what but "Returning to the Entrance" definitely coincides with the latter track, grinding back up toward the light (it's a long way to go) with every pull of the distorted rope and pulley system in hand. The closing "Cloudy Vision" definitely escapes the hot air vaults at last, though at this point your burned to such a fine crisp that you just evaporate into the air, carried across the mountains and rivers as pure energy. What an album, straight through. And of course, the beautiful cover art ain't nothing to scoff at.